Tom Burke Biography

Tom Liam Benedict Burke (born 30 June 1981) is an English actor. He is best known for his role as Athos in the BBC series The Musketeers (2014-2016) and as Dolokhov in the BBC literary-adaptation miniseries War & Peace (2016).

Early life

Tom Burke was born in London and grew up in Kent. His parents, David Burke and Anna Calder-Marshall, and his godparents, Alan Rickman and Bridget Turner, were also actors. His grandfather was writer Arthur Calder-Marshall. Burke was born with a cleft lip.

Burke always wanted to become an actor and attended the National Youth Theatre and the Young Arden Theatre in Faversham during his youth, besides participating in the plays his parents staged in their hometown.

As a child, Burke was diagnosed with dyslexia and struggled academically. He left school before his A-levels because he "couldn't stand the idea of that" and thought he "wouldn't survive it". As soon as he left school at 17, he wrote to an acting agency and got the first role he ever auditioned for. He attended dance school before being accepted at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) in London when he was 18.

Career

Tom Burke's first role was as Roland in 1999's Dragonheart: A New Beginning, a direct-to-video sequel of the 1996 film Dragonheart. In that year he appeared in an episode of the series Dangerfield and the television movie All the King's Men. After graduating from RADA, he started working steadily in television, film and theatre.

Television

His first television part after drama school was Syd in the Paul Abbott thriller series State of Play, starring John Simm, Bill Nighy and James McAvoy. In 2004 he played Lee in TV film Bella and the Boys. In 2005 he played the 20-year-old version of Giacomo Casanova's son, Giac, in the television adaptation of Casanova, starring David Tennant and Peter O'Toole.

In 2006 he played Dr. John Seward in the TV film Dracula. In 2007 he played Napoleon Bonaparte in an episode of BBC's docudrama Heroes and Villains and had a small part as a book publisher in the satirical drama The Trial of Tony Blair. In 2009 he played Lieutenant Colin Race in an episode of the 12th series of Agatha Christie's Poirot. In 2011 he played Bentley Drummle in two episodes of BBC's adaptation of Charles Dickens' Great Expectations. In 2012 he became a regular cast member in the second series of BBC Two's The Hour playing the part of journalist Bill Kendall. Since January 2014 he has played Athos on the BBC One series, The Musketeers, an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas' The Three Musketeers. and confirmed to played Cormoran Strike in BBC mini series

Films

In 2004 he had his first cinema part in The Libertine. In 2007 he played an aspiring filmmaker who ends up directing a porn film in the comedy I Want Candy. In 2008 he played Bluey in Donkey Punch, a horror thriller film which debuted at the 2008 Sundance Film Festival. In 2009 he played Geoff Goddard in Telstar: The Joe Meek Story. In the same year he had a small part in Stephen Frears' Chri. In 2010 he played Davy in Third Star, a drama starring Benedict Cumberbatch, JJ Feild and Adam Robertson which follows a trip four friends, one of them terminally ill, make to Barafundle Bay in Wales.

In 2012 he played Mark in Cleanskin. In 2013 he played Billy, the older brother of Ryan Gosling's character in Only God Forgives, directed by Nicolas Winding Refn. In the same year he had a supporting role in the Ralph Fiennes-directed film The Invisible Woman.

Theatre

As a theatre actor, Burke has worked with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has appeared in plays at the Shakespeare's Globe, playing Romeo in Romeo and Juliet in 2004; at the Old Vic in Nol Coward's Design for Living opposite Andrew Scott and Lisa Dillon in 2010; and at the Almeida Theatre playing Greg in reasons to be pretty in 2011. In 2002 he played Hamlet in Howard Baker's Gertrude - The Cry, a reworking of Shakespeare's Hamlet which focuses on the character of Gertrude, the protagonist's mother.

In 2006 he worked with Ian McKellen in the play The Cut. In 2008 he played Adolph in Creditors at the Donmar Warehouse. Actor Alan Rickman, Burke's godfather, staged the play which earned Burke an Ian Charleston Award. The play subsequently premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York in 2010. In 2012 he played Louis Dubedat in The Doctor's Dilemma at the National Theatre.

Filmography

Film

Year	Film	Role	Director
2000	Dragonheart: A New Beginning	Roland	Doug Lefler
2003	The Burl	Connor	Toby Tobias
2004	Squaddie	Andy	Conor McDermottroe
2005	The Libertine	Vaughan	Laurence Dunmore
2006	The Enlightenment	Daniel Clay	Julia Ford
2007	I Want Candy	John 'Baggy' Bagley	Stephen Surjik
	Supermarket Sam	Sam	Caz Roberts
	The Collectors	Edgar	Tim Elliott
2008	Donkey Punch	Bluey	Olly Blackburn
2009	Telstar	Geoff Goddard	Nick Moran
	Chri	Vicomte Desmond	Stephen Frears
	Death in Charge	Uncle Sean	Devi Snively
	Roar	Mick	Adam Wimpenny
2010	The Kid	Mr. Hayes	Nick Moran
	Third Star	Davy	Hattie Dalton
	Look, Stranger		Arielle Javitch
2012	An Enemy to Die For	Terrence	Peter Dalle
	Cleanskin	Mark	Hadi Hajaig
2013	Only God Forgives	Billy	Nicolas Winding Refn
	The Invisible Woman	Mr. George Wharton Robinson	Ralph Fiennes
2014	The Hooligan Factory	Bullet	Nick Nevern

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1999	Dangerfield	Gavin Kirkdale	Episode #6.11 "Something Personal"
	All the King's Men	Private Chad Batterbee	Director: Julian Jarrold
2003	State of Play	Syd	Episodes #1.3-1.6
	The Young Visiters	Horace	Director: David Yates
	POW	Robbie Crane	Episode #1.3
2004	Bella and the Boys	Lee	Director: Brian Hill
	The Inspector Lynley Mysteries	Julian Britton	Episode #3.1 "In Pursuit of the Proper Sinner"
2005	Casanova	Giac, aged 20	Episode #1.3
	The Brief	Dan Ottway	Episode #2.2
	Jericho	Edward Wellesley	Episode #1.1 "A Pair of Ragged Claws"
	All About George	Paul	Episodes #1.2-1.6
2006	Number 13	Edward Jenkins	Director: Pier Wilkie
	Dracula	Dr. John Seward	Director: Bill Eagles
2007	The Trial of Tony Blair	Book Publisher	Director: Simon Cellan Jones
	Heroes and Villains	Napoleon Bonaparte	Episode #1.1 "Napoleon"
2008	In Love with Barbara	Ronald Cartland	Director: Tim Whitby
2009	Agatha Christie's Poirot	Lieutenant Colin Race	Episode #12.1 "The Clocks"
2011	Great Expectations	Bentley Drummle	Episodes #1.2-1.3
2012	The Hour	Bill Kendall	Episodes #2.1-2.6
2013	Heading Out	Ben	Episode #1.6
2013 - 2014	Utopia	Philip Carvel	Episode #2.1, 2.5
2014-2016	The Musketeers	Athos	Series regular
2016	War & Peace	Fedor Dolokhov

Theatre

Year	Title	Role	Director	Theatre	Notes
2002	Gertrude - The Cry	Hamlet	Howard Barker	Riverside Studios
2003	The Wax King (Henry VI, Part 3)	Lord Clifford	Paul Miller	The Dreaming Will Initiative	part of the documentary film How do You Know My Daughter?
	Fragile Land	Fidel	Paul Miller	Hampstead Theatre
	The Monument	Stetko	Helen Eastman	Finborough Theatre
2004	Romeo and Juliet	Romeo	Tim Carroll	Shakespeare's Globe	with Kanuni Kirimi, John McEnery, and Bette Bourne
2005	Macbeth	Malcolm	John Caird	Almeida Theatre	with Simon Russell Beale, Emma Fielding, and William Gaunt
	The Incarcerator	Liddle	David Tucker	Old Red Lion Theatre
2006	The Cut	Stephen	Michael Grandage	Donmar Warehouse	with Ian McKellen, Jimmy Akingbola, and Deborah Findlay
2007	Scenes from an Execution	Carpeta	William Oldroyd	Hackney Empire
	Glass Eels	Kenneth	Lucy Bailey	Hampstead Theatre
	Don Juan Comes Back From the War	Don Juan	Gadi Roll	Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
2008	I'll Be The Devil	Dermot	Maria Aberg	Tricycle Theatre
	Excerpt from The Poisoned Atmosphere		Tom Burke	Soho Studio	Directed
	Creditors	Adolph	Alan Rickman	Donmar Warehouse	for which he won the Ian Charleson Award; with Anna Chancellor and Owen Teale
2009	Restoration	Robert Merivel	Francis Matthews	Salisbury Playhouse
2010	Design for Living	Otto	Anthony Page	Old Vic Theatre	with Andrew Scott, Lisa Dillon and Angus Wright
2011	reasons to be pretty	Greg	Michael Attenborough	Almeida Theatre	with Billie Piper
2012	The Doctor's Dilemma	Louis Dubedat	Nadia Fall	Royal National Theatre	with Genevieve O'Reilly and Malcolm Sinclair
2016	Reasons to be Happy	Greg	Michael Attenborough	Hampstead Theatre	with Warren Brown, Robyn Addison and Lauren O'Neil
2016	Deep Blue Sea	Freddie Page	Carrie Cracknelll	Royal National Theatre	with Helen McCrory

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Work	Organization	Result
2008	Ian Charleson Award	Creditors at Donmar Warehouse	Royal National Theatre	Won